Did you consider the Civic Hybrid and why did you pick the Prius?

My previous car was a Honda Accord and I was ready to get a smaller car. I seriously considered the Civic hybrid. On the test drive, I enjoyed driving the Civic and I liked the looks of the Civic more than the Prius. The dealbreaker for me was the fact that the rear seat did not fold down. My witch's broom would not fit. (Yes, the broom went with me to the test drives.)My hobby is costuming. My Wicked Witch of the West costume has a six foot tall broom. I spent way too much time making the broom to want to tie it to the roof to get to an event or convention. The Prius has more flexibility for transporting large amounts of stuff - be it costumes or home improvement related (lumber, mulch, closet organizing systems, plants, etc.)Lynn

 

An unfortunate fact that indicates to me most Prius owners don't understand, nor take full advantage, of the car's capabilities.

 

I'm not sure in real-world driving the MPG would be much different than what the graph shows. The only slight advantage the Prius has is the capability to inch forward on the motor without the ICE. We rented a Prius for three days in Vegas last year, and got about the same mileage as we now get on the HCH.
Personally, I like hatchbacks, but they are not big sellers here, a big reason most manufacturers, like Honda and Toyota, don't bring hatch models of some of their best selling cars (Civic, Corolla) to the U.S.

 

I considered it at the time (late 05) but not for very long. It was clearly an inferior car for the money as it wasn't any cheaper, didn't have all the neat gadgets, was definitely slower and had inferior fuel economy. I also didn't like the weird interior of all the Civics at the time. So, I got my Prius.

However, admittedly, once Toyota's tax credit went to $0 and the HCH was still eligible for full tax credit, arguably, the HCH might've become the better value. However, Honda's tax credit is winding down now too.

 

I have nothing against the Honda Civic. But this small car has grown to be almost a mid-size. My 94 Civic is doing fine, it's replacement is a long ways off.
I like the looks of the Prius better.

 

220kg and the trailer I have made weighs 80kg.

I would more often use the towing capacity to tow a 6' x 4' trailer with recycling to the recycling depot just so I keep the inside of my car clean.

 

I really took a good look at the civic, I even went back to test drive it twice. In the end I figured the only things I like about it were the looks, and the traction control. It does not have the same traction control...it will spin the tires in the snow, so a lot harder to get stuck.

I climbed into the back seat of both cars and uhh almost decided on just that alone. My Prius has almost the same room in the back seat as my truck did!

Normal driving fuel economy is close, but with a little(and I do mean little, I'm not really working all that hard to get 60+mpg) effort you can get insane FE. As hard as I tried I could not get the hch to accelerate at all without the ice, showing me that the ice is much more utilized for propulsion in that car than in the prius. Then with a little more research I came up with the same conclusion...The Prius is electric with gas assist, The HCH is gas with electric assist.

When It all boiled down and I looked at my pro con list, the Prius took the hch out in the first round with a knockout.

And the icing on the cake? People know I am driving a hybrid...The HCH imho hides it's true self too much with that tiny little badge.

my .02

 

1. The Prius package 2 was cheaper than the base civic hybrid

2. The Prius has a lot more space than the civic. The civic has an ugly trunk with seats that don't fold down.

3. The civic hybrid is plain UGLY!

 

I did consider the Honda Civic Hybrid. I drove both cars on city streets and on the freeway. This is my opinion on the deficiencies:

Honda Civic Hybrid - smaller interior with no fold-down rear seats, limited exterior colors which, in my opinion, are dull & bland, interior colors are terrible (ivory, looks yellow, or dark blue seats with very light, almost off white, door panels and seat backs, & mileage not on par with the Prius.

Toyota Prius - needs telescoping steering wheel.

I just bought a 2008 Barcelona Red Prius with Option Package #3 since I was not interested in leather seats or the Toyota Nav System (I have a Garmin). I have now driven the car 250 miles and I am very pleased. The telescoping steering wheel, which the Honda Civic has, would be a nice improvement. The Prius replaces a 2005 PT Cruiser Limited Edition turbo which got 19.5 mpg in town and 24 mpg on trips. The Prius is larger and much quieter than the PT Cruiser. So far the Prius average MPG is 47.6.
I hope my comments help anyone who hasn't decided on a Civic Hybrid or Prius. Buy the Prius. You won't be disappointed.

 

I'd decided that I was going to buy a hybrid, and nothing but a hybrid. I contacted several Honda and Toyota dealers in my area and asked about a test drive (Civic & Prius). The two Honda dealers that bothered to respond told me that they didn't keep one on the lot for test drives but would order one if I promised to buy after driving it

Both Toyota dealers said that they kept one on the lot, not for sale, specifically for test drives and to "come on over".

Since I won't buy without parking my butt in the seat first I dropped Honda like a bad habit and haven't been the least disappointed.

 

I have driven both vehicles, 2007 and 2008 models. I generally achieve slightly better gas mileage with the Honda hybrid in most (not all) situations as I am 49 and drive professionally and the "feel" of the Honda is more conducive to seat of the pants "feel" in terms of performance (which includes achieving good fuel economy). The Honda hybrid accelerates more quickly corners more cleanly, and has a much sportier feel to it. I also prefer the looks of the Hinda interior to that of the Prius.

However, for ride comfort, steering "feel", and the hatchback/storage layout, and general interior space and headroom, the Prius comes out on top. I also know it is possible to achieve better miles per gallon with the Prius and on a long trip the Prius would be more comfortable (despite the quality of the seats).

As far as options, Both the Civic hybrid and the Prius can have aftermarket leather, and both can accept many aftermarket creature comforts.

Both cars are well built and a fair value (especially with current gas prices). I think the choice is best made based upon how a person intends to utilize the vehicle and a person's driving habits.

 

I test drove the civic hybrid and these were my complaints:
Civic hybrid came in one style. No GPS available (not that I wanted one) but it was just 1 style interior or you could choose the after market leather for about 1k more and that was it. there was a very "stock" feeling about it.
Civic Hybrid was too jumpy when the engine cut off and back on. It really did feel like the car was stalling. There was no nifty tech stuff about it either. It felt dated.
Thats why I chose the prius. (well I wanted the prius over the civic any way but I had to test drive the civic just to make sure)

 

I also considered the Civic Hybrid. I bought the Prius because the gas mileage of the Prius was better. I know the difference is not huge but there is a difference. If your buying a car for its great gas mileage you buy the one with the best mileage. I didn't want to buy a car with the second best mileage.

Its the same as if you wanted a fast car. You'd look at the lineup of the fastest cars you could afford. Then you'd buy the fastest car in the group. You wouldn't buy the second fastest car just because it was close.

 

AMEN! I bought the Prius because the design of its hybrid system is just elegant from an engineering point of view. The power split device in the Prius is simply a tried-and-true Sun-Ring-Planet gear set. Those don't ever fail. The necessary changing of gear ratios performed by a transmission is all handled electronically with the motor generators and the electronics between them. That makes for rock solid reliability.

The Honda Civic Hybrid on the other hand is much more of a kludge - they slapped a hybrid system on top of a standard power train. As others have noted, you don't get the same hybrid benefits.

And, the Honda CVT is a "traditional" CVT (noting that CVTs are not traditional yet) using two pullys and a metal belt. I have much less faith in the longevity of those compared to the Prius's power split device and a couple of motor-generators.

In short, the Toyota engineers started out with a blank sheet of paper, the Honda folks didn't.

 

After reading about the Prius and Civic hybrid, it soon became apparent that the prius is far superior as far is hybrids go. My neighbors got their civic hybrid while I was waiting 4 months for mine to be delivered back in Oct. They paid 25ish nad I paid 28ish, but I imagine that both are cheaper now that gas is $2/gallon.

Why the prius is "better"
1.
Prius electric motor: about 65 hp
Civic EM: either 13 or 20 hp (i cant remember)
The civic hybrid is a conventional car with a tiny EM and battery added, and hence, you only get a small fraction of the regenerative braking.

2.
Prius compressor is electrically driven.
Civic compressor is belt driven, so your either sweating at red lights (about the only time the engine will not be running), or running that (relatively) big engine, just to spin the compressor.

3. Prius has a thermos which holds about a gallon of coolant when parked, so when you startup, this still-warm coolant drastically reduces warm up time, which is more efficient.

4. Prius has a lower drag coefficient. It doesnt have the sex appeal of a door stop by chance! If you look at photos of the new Honda insight, the striking similiarity with the prius is due to drag coefficient.

 

Guess I should have included this..
My neighbor with the civic hybrid has averaged 36mpg while I've averaged 47mpg

 

I looked at both. I actually DIDN'T want a car that looked like a hybrid .... whatever that is. That's why I looked hard at the Civic. However, after driving both, the Prius was the only choice.

I also really wanted the added function of a 5-door hatch.

... Brad

 

The civic a big NO! just dont like it the insight, did not like the drive.

 

Do not mean to burst your bubble of excitement but perhaps a few corrections are in order.

The Civic has the body and chassis of a conventional car, but its gas engine is unique to the hybrid model. The motor/stator is rated at 20 HP and it has more than the regenerative capacity a 1kw/h (158V) battery can accommodate. The battery is shallower and slightly smaller than that of the Prius, but at the exception of a few instances higher fuel economy is actually derived from using the battery pack less, not more.

The civic hybrid compressor is electrically driven by default and assisted by the gas engine when the load/cooling requirement is higher. Technically, it has a hybrid compressor that works quite effectively while minimizing energy conversion losses.

True about how effective the thermos is, but on a side by side comparison the Civic Hybrid is the most efficient of the two under extreme cold weather. Especially when it is so cold the ICE runs full time.
The 2010 Prius will certainly turn the tables on this deficit and I cannot wait to see how sweet that will be.

I think the Prius has plenty of sex appeal and in my view its shape has a whole lot to do with it.
However the second gen Prius has a 0.26 drag coefficient versus the Civic Hybrid's 0.27. The 2010 Insight has a drag coefficient ( 0.28) which as you can see, is a little worse than the other two.


Cheers;

MSantos

 

That is more the difference between drivers and routes than of the cars themselves.

My histogram of the results in the mileage logs on cleanmpg is missing right now, but my memory is that the distributions are for these two cars are very similar.